


Lover Boy

by k_itt



Category: NCT (Band), SuperM (Korea Band), WayV (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Kim Jungwoo/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas (mentioned), M/M, Past Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Past Jung Yoohnoh | Jaehyun/Kim Jungwoo, Past Jung Yoohnoh | Jaehyun/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Past Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun /OC, Past Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Taeyong, Past Relationship(s), Platonic Relationships, Relationship(s), Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:40:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22706338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/k_itt/pseuds/k_itt
Summary: Jaehyun is a lover.--"Those weren’t the only times that Jaehyun had ever fallen in love in his life, and he fell in love way too many times in between, but those, those four times were the times that he knew that his love was so strong he would never stop loving those people that came into his life, no matter what."
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten
Comments: 12
Kudos: 58





	Lover Boy

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little something inspired by the fact that Jaehyun was born on valentine's day.
> 
> Thank you @Immaunreliablenarrator for proofreading this.<3

Jaehyun used to say he was meant to be a lover. Not a lover in the bad use of the word, no. Jaehyun simply loved to be in love. He loved that warm fuzzy feeling that happens in your stomach whenever you look at someone you love; that feeling of calmness, or sometimes the unsettled kind of feeling when you hear their voice; the uncontrollable smile that insist on turning up the corners of your lips out of the sheer thought of someone you like – sometimes in the most inappropriate moments. Jaehyun was in love with the fact of being in love and loving itself was one of the most pleasurable feelings in the world.

Winwin used to say that Jaehyun was crazy.

Yuta says it’s because he was born on Valentine’s day.

Johnny and Mark just laugh, but in fact they think it’s nice. And Jaehyun can’t help but smile.

“Seriously, though. Are you really in love? Again?”

Mark screeched from the other side of the table, both Yuta and Winwin shaking their heads beside him, while Johnny, by Jaehyun’s side, patted him on his back as he did nothing but shrug.

“I am.”

It wasn’t like Jaehyun was a hopeless romantic, and he never believed in fairy tales or love at first sight or the kind of cliché things. It just… happened. Johnny once said it was because Jaehyun has a tendency of only seeing the best in people; that’s why. But Jaehyun couldn’t quite agree with that.

\--

The first time Jaehyun fell in love – like really in love and not some kind of infatuation towards some senior or the guy from the internet cafe at the corner of his school – he was a junior in high school.

In fact, Taeyong was a senior, but not just some senior. Taeyong had been the senior who helped Jaehyun go through it all. Taeyong had been his first (real) love, his first (real) kiss – as 7 minutes in heaven with some girl from his history class that did nothing but quick peck him on the lips shouldn’t count as a kiss. Taeyong had been his first a-lot-of-stuff-Jaehyun-had-only-seen-in-porn-before, and worst, Taeyong had been his first heartbreak too.

Half of the school could only see Taeyong as a troublemaker; the other half saw him as the gay troublemaker, and when Jaehyun stepped in, transferred mid-term from some city on the other side of the world that most kids couldn’t pronounce its name, Taeyong pulled him under his wing, grinning with a stupid smile and giggling cutely at another of Jaehyun (many) vocabulary mistakes.

They started out as friends and teachers had seen an opportunity in making Taeyong tutor Jaehyun – apparently. And what Jaehyun learned, in fact, was that Taeyong wasn’t any trouble maker, but a good kid with a kind heart and a mind way ahead of his time. And Taeyong, in fact, helped Jaehyun with grades and school, and all the stuff the teachers wanted them to do, but he also taught Jaehyun what love really is and to this day, Jaehyun couldn’t have been more grateful for that.

It didn’t last long, unfortunately. It counted six months of dating and nine altogether if you add all those times during summer when Taeyong said they shouldn’t be dating – since Taeyong would leave for college in August – but they still spent most of those lazy, hot afternoons together, whenever Jaehyun wasn’t playing basketball with his other friends. Nine, if you added all those stolen kisses and messy, hurried hands, locked inside their bedrooms while songs from their video game’s menu played on loop, both controllers long time forgotten around the floor.

Nine, because when Taeyong left that Thursday morning, Jaehyun knew Taeyong would never send those letters, and Jaehyun wouldn’t send those emails either.

\--

The second time Jaehyun fell in love was the one and only time he ever believed in love at first sight.

The fact that he doesn’t believe in this now doesn’t mean he didn’t before. Nor did it mean that he doesn’t believe it didn’t happen, because it did, once. What Jaehyun knows now, is that all the love-at-first-sight kind of thing isn’t a kind of love supposed to be lived; it is only supposed to be felt.

That, and the fact that until now he couldn’t quite explain that one time he had felt in love for a girl he didn’t even know her name. He first saw her on campus, second week of sophomore year, behind a stall across the library.

Back then, Johnny said he was going through a bi-curious phase, while Winwin said he had probably just hit his head on the shower that morning – the fact that they found their rod mysteriously fallen on the ground once that same week could, possibly, explain that. But the fact was: Jaehyun _had_ fallen in love with a complete stranger (girl), once.

Maybe it was the sun that glowed orange behind her, making her hair shine as it moved on the wind. Maybe it had been her smile, bright, careless and free, at something Jaehyun could only imagine. Maybe it had been the sparkle in her eyes and their eyes met for the longest second in Jaehyun’s life. Maybe it had been the news that he would (finally!) join their main basketball team. Maybe it had been the feeling of knowing that they a chance this season. Maybe it was just because he wouldn’t really have to attend Mr. Becker’s boring lecture later that evening. Maybe it had been all of it.

But the fact was: Jaehyun spent the next few months after that daydreaming about a girl he didn’t really meet, but made his heart skip too many beats.

He didn’t really know when it stopped (and Jaehyun still wasn’t sure if you could ever stop loving someone), but soon it was winter, and Christmas, and he was snuggling with this guy from Marketing on weekends. And when Jaehyun caught a glimpse of that girl’s smile at the corridors of their gym, his heart didn’t skip no beat, but it felt warm and Jaehyun smiled and everything felt nice.

\--

The third time Jaehyun fell in love was (very) problematic. After all, you’re not supposed to fall in love with your best friend, right?

Jaehyun never planned to fall in love with Johnny – hell no, it was _not_ supposed to happen! But the thing was: it happened. And although Jaehyun did know _why_ , he could never explain _how_.

Jaehyun met Johnny when they were still freshmen and had at least half of their classes together through the whole year, coincidently. They have clicked from the start and soon, both WinWin – his roommate – and Yuta – Johnny’s roommate – tagged along and the four of them made quite a squad. They still were, up to this day, plus Mark – Jaehyun’s junior – and Ten – but that is a whole other story.

Johnny had really become Jaehyun’s best friend and Jaehyun was still confused on how that happened. They saw each other almost every day – the four of them – they ate together almost every day – the four of them – and Jaehyun told Johnny about most of his life, the same way he knew Johnny told him about most of his life, and things had been like that for years. For over three years, and then one day, it happened, and all Jaehyun could think about was Johnny’s loud laugh, and the warmth of his voice and the silliness in his eyes. And that Jaehyun wanted was to have it all to himself. To hold Johnny tight. And at the same time it felt so right, all it took was for Jaehyun to meet Johnny after some class and all those feelings vanished from his mind.

It was the oddest thing ever, as Jaehyun would catch himself thinking about how much he wanted Johnny to be by his side and when he finally was, Jaehyun wouldn’t even remember he had thought something like that, only to catch himself thinking about it sometime later, back inside his bedroom.

It got to the point that Jaehyun was afraid of meeting Johnny one day and having all those feelings popping up inside his head and inside his chest and before he noticed, he started avoiding his best friend, on purpose. Even Winwin had asked him if he and Johnny had had some kind of fight or something, but they hadn’t, and before he noticed, three weeks had passed where he hadn’t met Johnny at all.

And when they finally met, another couple of days after that, with the news that Johnny was dating this girl from his photography class, Jaehyun hadn’t felt this warm inside in some good while. Johnny couldn’t be happier, and Jaehyun couldn’t be happier for his best friend.

It was only then that he noticed that he wasn’t in fact in love with his best friend, but that Jaehyun loved his best friend and cherished him with his whole life, for something as simple as Johnny himself.

Jaehyun loves Johnny like a real brother until these days.

\--

The fourth time Jaehyun fell in love it was impossible not to.

Jaehyun met Jungwoo at some frat party – and Jaehyun had never been keen on those parties, neither those frat boys – but there was something about Jungwoo that made Jaehyun fall madly in love. Jaehyun had never seen someone being so openly flirty – well, at least not a man towards another man at those parties – at the same time he had never seen someone being _that_ sweet while being _that_ much of a tease, and that probably made something short-circuit inside Jaehyun’s head that night.

It was impressive how fast Jaehyun had fallen in love with Jungwoo, and the way he smiled shyly and leaned his head on Jaehyun shoulder before their soft kisses turned into mad sex that made Jaehyun tired enough to quickly fall asleep after that, otherwise he was sure he probably couldn’t sleep at all.

It was impossible not to fall in love with the pureness of Jungwoo’s heart that stopped to pet each and every dog, or cat, or kid that crossed their path. It was impossible not to fall in love with the way he smiled at the world and his kindness, all too big for his own good.

Jaehyun was a lover, and Jungwoo was absolutely lovable, and Jaehyun loved him deeply for years. They graduated together, they moved in together after that and they loved each other, there was no denying that. But Jungwoo was too lovely and it was just as hard for him to say no to someone as it was hard to say no to him. That’s why, when Lucas showed up, Jaehyun knew it wasn’t really his fault, nor it was Jungwoo’s.

Love was a funny thing, as sometimes it made you love two people at the same time, and Jungwoo had so much lov+ inside him that Jaehyun didn’t doubt that, but Jaehyun wasn’t ready for that. And since he loved Jungwoo so much, he let Jungwoo go.

\--

Of course it had hurt him, and it hurt him so bad that Jaehyun thought he could never fall in love like that ever again.

And for some time, he didn’t.

Those weren’t the only times that Jaehyun had ever fallen in love in his life, and he fell in love way too many times in between, but those, those four times were the times that he knew that his love was so strong he would never stop loving those people that came into his life, no matter what.

These four times were also the four people that changed Jaehyun inside; that showed him what it was to love, fearlessly and deeply, and with his whole heart.

Jaehyun had fallen in and out of love a lot of times after Jungwoo, and it was probably crazy how much he loved the state of being in love. How much he loved the fact of falling in love and he wished he would never stop loving, as loving made life beautiful, beamful; meaningful.

And now that Jaehyun had fallen in love like _that_ for the fifth time, this one time, he couldn’t help but wish that, this time, it would last forever.

\--

“Oh my god,” Mark’s voice echoed between another round of laughs when a slow smile tugged on the corner of Jaehyun’s lips, slowly turning them upwards. He could feel his heart beating faster and faster, and deeper, and warmer, at the same time, it felt at ease as he watched him, _he_ , step inside the room. “You even look like you’re in love, that’s so…”

“Gross? Disgusting? Annoying? Insufferable? Despicable?”

“Oh, wow. Someone’s studying.” Winwin pointed, unamused by Yuta’s vocabulary.

“Studying for what?” Ten asked as soon as he joined them at the table, taking the empty seat beside Jaehyun.

“Yuta’s practicing his vocabulary by insulting Jaehyun’s love life.” Johnny explained.

“Have you told them?”

The surprise in Ten’s voice had probably hidden – well, at least for the others – the sparkle in his eyes and Jaehyun had to bite his lips in order to try to keep a straight face, completely in vain.

“Not really.”

“Wait, you told Ten before you told me!?”

Johnny was probably even more surprised than the rest of them, except, maybe, for Winwin, who frowned towards him.

“Unless…”

\--

Jaehyun was in love now, for the fifth time, and there was no denying that.

It was Johnny who brought Ten into their small group and ever since then, Jaehyun’s life became a mess. A mess he learned to love and didn’t want to ever picture his life without, ever again.

The whole thing about Ten was so crazy that there was only one thing worse than falling in love with your best friend, and that was falling in love with your best friend’s date. And Jaehyun could still remember how beautiful Ten looked when Johnny introduced his new date to his best friends – Jaehyun included on that list.

Johnny and Ten dated for about two months - maybe a little bit less than that - and they had met during some photography workshop, six months ago. It was amazing how easily Ten quickly found his place in their group of friends and before they noticed, Ten had managed to always tag the ever-so-quiet Winwin along with him for hours-long walking’s at shopping malls, or art galleries. Ten seemed to pester Winwin even more than Yuta did, and yet, Winwin didn’t seem to look as murderous towards Ten as he did towards Yuta, which was totally Ten’s merit.

Before they noticed, Ten had joined Mark’s long talks about music and it was more often than not that they would hear Ten singing to something Mark played on his guitar. Before they noticed, Ten and Yuta had showed up with a new row of piercings, or maybe even a new tattoo, and would sometimes vanish for a day or two, only for the rest of them to hear about this one-day road trip they did together for reasons only the two of them really understood.

Before Jaehyun noticed, Ten would join him – and sometimes Mark and Johnny did it too – for his late hours of playing basketball on the streets or his endless search inside record stores. Before Jaehyun noticed, Ten was dragging Jaehyun along with him and Winwin or him and Yuta, and Jaehyun simply loved to hear both Mark and Ten’s music sessions – now made his, too.

They all noticed how Johnny and Ten didn’t really look like a couple and before they drifted apart, they realized they didn’t want to drift at all, and soon Jaehyun was being tagged to Ten and Johnny’s photography sessions too; sometimes with a third camera on his hands, sometimes as their personal model. Johnny and Ten had become real friends – no benefits – and sometimes Jaehyun was afraid Johnny had found himself a new best friend. But when the three of them laughed off their drunken asses late at night, all of them tossed around, together, on Johnny’s couch, Jaehyun was sure they both had found, in Ten, their new best friend.

Ten had the craziest persona Jaehyun had ever met – Taeyong included. They probably would make a good pair, if they ever had an opportunity to meet, Jaehyun thought. There were times when Ten let out the oddest comments blurt out of from his mouth – at the most (in)appropriated moments – that made Jaehyun want to simply ignore him; but he didn’t, and he would find himself smiling , or sometimes hiding, because of them. Ten had a sharp tongue, even worse than Yuta’s, much to their despair, and it shook Jaehyun’s mind when he found himself just waiting for the next savage moment.

Before Jaehyun noticed, he caught himself just waiting for Ten’s blunt opinion over the smallest things. Before he noticed, Jaehyun had spent hours and hours talking to Ten and Ten alone about all those things it took him years to share with Johnny, and Winwin, and Yuta, and Mark. Before he noticed, he was smiling whenever Ten smiled too, and anticipating whenever they would meet next.

Slowly, Jaehyun noticed when Ten’s eyes caught his own staring, and vice versa. Slowly, Jaehyun noticed when Ten’s touches lingered just a little bit more and he wished that Ten noticed that Jaehyun’s arms, too, lingered around Ten’s body a little bit more than they should.

The whole problem was: Ten and Johnny casually forgot to tell them, all of them, that they weren’t dating anymore, and until they did, a full month later (maybe more), Jaehyun had already found himself guiltily thinking about his best friend (supposed) boyfriend in ways that no best friend was supposed to think about their best friend’s date.

It was not like they did it on purpose, as Jaehyun learned about three months ago; they simply thought it didn’t matter, until that night, when Johnny left Jaehyun and Ten alone in his living room to either take a piss, or grab more beer, or both, and Jaehyun’s eyes fell on Ten’s lips, but not before he felt Ten’s eyes on his own lips, and Jaehyun’s head twisted in a very unpleasant way when he heard Johnny’s voice somewhere behind them. Jaehyun had made some bullshit excuse to leave Johnny’s place soon after that – he knew it was lame – but he was just so confused when Ten said he would leave then, too.

It was more of a shock than it was a surprise when, the very next day, Ten asked Johnny the name of the girl he would take on a date that week. Shocking because he asked so casually while no one else knew (officially) that the two of them weren’t dating anymore – they should probably have gotten used to Ten’s straightforwardness at that point – but not surprised that they weren’t dating anymore and not surprised at all by the fact that Johnny was already seeing someone else – and that Ten was completely fine with that too.

It did surprise Jaehyun when Ten followed him to his car later that night and asked if now that Jaehyun _knew_ that he and Johnny weren’t dating anymore, if Jaehyun would do what he had wanted to do last night, or if Ten would have to do it himself (sic).

Ten was crazy, as Johnny used to say and Jaehyun could only agree with. And he had never agreed to that so much, and he never loved Ten’s craziness so much as he did that night, when he pulled Ten closer, effortlessly, and their lips met, before tongues and teeth, and Jaehyun loved the taste of Ten’s smile against his mouth. On that same night, Jaehyun had fallen in love with the way his name slipped between Ten’s moans beneath him, their naked bodies crashing together over Ten’s bed.

Jaehyun had learned to love Ten even more after that – and after agreeing they would wait to tell the others, even Johnny. And as time passed, Jaehyun learned that he already loved most of the things about Ten, and the more he learned about Ten’s bright personality, the more he got to know him, to really know Ten, the more in love he became.

\--

“Unless...?”

Jaehyun couldn’t suppress a smile when Ten snorted at both Winwin and Yuta.

And when Ten’s coy smile became brighter, knowing, Jaehyun knew for sure that it was his own smile, when he quietly chuckled, that gave them up.

“Oh my god.” – Winwin is clever.

“Oh my god!” – Yuta is loud.

“I knew it!” – Johnny _is_ their best friend, he should have known better, even before that.

“Oh my god, knew what?” – And Mark… - “Oh. My GOD! No way!” Is Mark.

Jaehyun used to say he was meant to be a lover.

In fact, he loved being a lover, and loved being in love. But what he really loved, even more than that, was being in love with Ten.

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to add me on twitter (I've been wanting to share this with you for a while) and I've created a cc too, so here it is. ^^
> 
> [@twitter](https://twitter.com/10queso)  
> [@curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/10queso)


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